1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement for multilayer electrical conductor rails, and more particularly to a curved or bent multilayer arrangement for conductor rails comprising several electrically conductive strips separated by layers of insulating materials.
At the present time, conductor rails are used with increasing frequency in a large number of technological fields. These rails are also entering new domains, such as, for example, the automotive field. Such conductor rails (also termed "bus bars") are formed of electrical conductors in the form of strips or sheets each separated from each other by insulating layers. For this purpose, relatively thin sheet material is used as the insulating layer in order to ensure that the final assembly of conductors is comparatively compact. When the conductor rails are manufactured, it is the case in a number of applications that they need to be bent sharply or curved. If the curve radius at an elbow in the rail is too small for standard bus bars, or if, due to the fact that there are several different superimposed layers, when a rail is curved, the outer layers are subjected to high levels of stretching, thereby causing electrical problems at the point where the rail bends sharply. The insulating layers may be stretched and become excessively thin, with the result that breakdown voltage may occur between the conductors separated by the insulating layer, which may in turn, due to generation of heat or the formation of sparks, in addition to the formation of ozone, damage or even destroy the insulating layer, to a point where short-circuits may occur.
Each of the outer faces of assembled rails should preferably be provided with a thin layer of electrical insulation. The external insulation is thus complete in the area of the bend in the rail and must be arranged in a manner ensuring the elimination of all air.